THe History Of the Genre under fire

Heavy Metal arguably originated in the 1960’s or 70’s. Its roots are seeded deep in blues and psychedelic rock. The first bands to come into the genre are constantly debated by metalheads around the world. It was Deep Purple or Black Sabbath. Either way, all three of these bands did something that no one had ever done before: a thick, massive sound characterized and amplified by distortion, emphatic beats, longer guitar solos, and overall loudness. This lead the revolutionary genre to be associated with masculinity and power(Wienstein 2000). Unfortunately, this association coupled with misunderstood lyrics and a negative bias from parents around the world leads to the genre being under fire.

The PRMC, Parents Music Research Center, was created in 1985. This organization was started in order to limit the amount of “explicit” music kids hear. On top of that the PRMC created a list called the filthy 15. On this list are 15 songs they claimed were too evil for anyone to listen too, let alone children. Over half of these songs are heavy metal songs like Black Sabbath’s "Trashed" and Merciful Fate’s "Into the Coven"(The PMRC). The PRMC has also lead to many trials against heavy metal and its themes. From promoting delinquency to committing suicide, heavy metal has been blamed for almost every childhood problem. This is where the bias’ and misunderstanding of the music, genre, and globalized family hurt the genre. Heavy Metal in fact does not promote delinquency or poison adolescents, rather it helps them cope with the issues in their lives.